Mellow timeline creates contrast

HARRISBURG - As the Senate moved to formally ban political activity on legislative work time in the spring of 2010, then-Senate Democratic Leader Robert J. Mellow directed two staffers to handle a $12,000 campaign check as part of their Senate duties.

The campaign check incident is referred to in a memo filed by federal prosecutors seeking a two-year prison sentence for Mr. Mellow in response to his guilty plea for conspiracy to commit fraud by using Senate staff for political work.

Mr. Mellow is scheduled for a sentencing hearing Friday in U.S. District Court in Scranton.

"As late as the spring of 2010," according to the prosecutors' memo, Mr. Mellow directed a secretary in his Blakely district office during normal work hours to write a check for $12,000 to the Democratic State Senate Campaign Committee from Mr. Mellow's campaign committee. Meanwhile, a Senate staffer was told that May to travel from Harrisburg to Blakely to take a package to Mr. Mellow. The senator handed the $12,000 check for DSSCC to the staffer after he arrived and asked him to bring it to Harrisburg.

The unnamed staffer was so annoyed at being asked to do political work that he took a photo of that check from Friends of Bob Mellow, which appears photocopied in the memo.

By that time, then-state attorney general Tom Corbett's "Bonusgate" investigation into the Legislature's misuse of taxpayer dollars for campaign purposes had been under way for three years and former House Minority Whip Mike Veon, D-Beaver, had been convicted of using taxpayer money to run campaigns and handing out bonuses to legislative staffers for political work. On the Senate agenda then was consideration of Senate Resolution 228, which set new Senate Rules of Ethical Conduct to make the division between legislative and campaign work clear. The rules forbid campaign activity on Senate work time and using Senate equipment for campaign work and bars employees from serving on a campaign committee of a senator or Senate candidate. Senate Republican leaders and Mr. Mellow were key sponsors of the resolution when it was introduced in January 2010. The resolution was approved by a unanimous 50-0 vote on June 15, 2010.

"Adopting these rules is another sign that the Senate is serious about improving how it operates," said Mr. Mellow in a news release announcing that action. "We have very carefully drafted these rules to be clear, easily understood and meaningful."

The rule took effect that October after the Senate conducted training sessions at the Capitol and in the district offices scattered across the state.

The Senate can't comment whether the rule has resulted in any enforcement actions since any proceedings would be confidential unless an individual waives that provision, said Erik Arneson, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-9, Chester, Tuesday.

Senate officials are not aware of any complaints or investigations since the rule took effect.

Contact the writer: rswift@timesshamrock.com

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